Brendan Canty (Drapac) again showed why he is regarded as one of the biggest climbing talents by claiming an impressive solo victory in the third stage of the Tour of Austria. Having attacked on the lower slopes of the short, steep Sonntagberg, he put 11 seconds into Markus Eibegger (Felbermayr) and 17 seconds into Marek Rutkiewicz (Wibatech) but it was Eibegger who moved into the race lead with a four-second advantage over the Australian.

We have gathered a few reactions.

Brendan Canty: It’s a fabulous feeling

“After Pieter Weening started the first attack, I counterattacked immediately and managed to escape. I’m thrilled about my first stage win! It’s just a fabulous feeling and a victory for the entire team at Drapac, who worked hard for this to happen in the last 30km of the race“, said cheering Brendan Canty, who won the youth classifiction at this year’s Tour of Oman.           

Home climber takes the lead in the Tour of Austria

“Canty was too strong today and demonstrated this clearly at the start of the final climb. However, I’m pretty pleased about my performance at the Tour until now as I didn’t waste too much energy in  the first two stages. I will surely need them tomorrow at the Glockner mountain“, stated Markus Eibegger, who will focus on stage wins rather than a general classification lead. ”My focus was on today’s stage. But who knows, perhaps I manage to perform well over the next two as well, which are quite hard“.

Young German shines for Stölting in Austrian mountains

Christian Mager was once again Team Stölting Service Group’s highest placed finisher on the tough final climb to the line on stage 3 of the Tour of Austria. Mager came home in 14th place, 43 seconds behind the solo stage winner, and as a result Mager continues to climb the overall classification, moving up to 13th.

After the stage, Sports Director Gregor Willwohl summed up the stage for the team. “It was a demanding stage today with 3,084m altitude gain – our aim was to cover the breakaway if it was a large group that went away and the right composition to be dangerous. The group that went wasn’t one we needed to follow so we focussed our support around Christian and Lennard [Kämna].

“Christian then rode a strong final climb and moved up the GC – he is explosive and a finish like this suits him.”

Alessandro Vanotti back in the mountains jersey in Austria

“I attacked several times uphill,” said Alessandro Vanotti. “And I finally managed to break away with 4 other riders. I won the first GPM and I was 2nd in the next one. Less than 50 kilometers from the finish I attacked again. We were 4 and we were only caught 10km from the finish. I am happy because it is another confirmation that I'm working well for the future.”